Two serving Greater Manchester police officers have been summonsed to appear before magistrates more than two years after a Unite Against Fascism protester was filmed being struck in the face during a rally.

Alan Clough, 65, from Radcliffe, Bury, was protesting against the English Defence League in Bolton in March 2010 when he was struck, fell to the ground and was subsequently arrested.

He was due to stand trial on a charge of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in October 2010, but the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case after footage of the rally was obtained.

Inspector Robert Cantrell, 39, and PC Alan Glover, 31 – both members of the Greater Manchester force's tactical aid unit – have been summoned to appear before York magistrates court on 11 September. The summons relates to a charge of perverting the course of justice.

The CPS confirmed it passed a guidance file back to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to go ahead with the charges on those counts.